Daphne Caruana Galizia Is La Repubblica’s Person Of The Year
Major Italian newspaper La Repubblica has named assassinated journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia as its person of the year for 2017.
The editorial, penned by renowned Italian journalist Roberto Saviano, describes Caruana Galizia as a journalist who embodied the power of the pen and who realised that Malta was morphing into an international hub for money laundering.
“She could understand that her island was attracting more and more dirty money, particularly after Brexit when British financial services companies needed to set up shop in other EU countries,” Saviano said. “As an EU and Commonwealth country with great economic relationships around the world, Malta proved to be the perfect location.”
.@robertosaviano: “Ecco perché #DaphneCaruanaGalizia è la persona dell’anno” https://t.co/oI0W3PQHi6 pic.twitter.com/Vk5myOgE2L
— la Repubblica (@repubblica) December 21, 2017
The editorial says that Caruana Galizia’s investigation on government corruption, such as the Panama Papers, shone an international spotlight on Malta as a money laundering hub.
“Daphne Caruana Galizia was like the mythological nymph Daphne, who loved her freedom so much that she was ready to transform into a laurel tree for it. Her killers celebrated her death with a bottle of wine, but thousands of people took to the streets to declare that her voice is stronger now than ever before.”